This Friday morning we have a special opportunity for a relaxed chat with a relaxed dude from California who has seen the world but is not a hippie: “Every founder needs a guiding star to weather the sometimes brutally stormy startup seas. What’s yours?

Hear about a journey from the Himalayan mountains to successful enterprise software startup, and enjoy a cup of coffee with Ken Lynch, tech founder and CEO of Reciprocity, a San Francisco based startup.

Ken recently opened an engineering office in Ljubljana. He started Reciprocity to explore building political-economic infrastructure, and his exploration has led him to the strange world of compliance, landing top-tier customers along the way.”

Free tickets available in the usual place, event also in the usual place at the usual time: Slamic, Kersnikova ulica, Ljubljana, start after 8am

October 9th, Ljubljana, Slovenia — Silicon Gardens Fund is announcing its first set of 5 investments. The fund launched in May of this year and it has already seen a steady flow of high potential regional teams who are capable and willing to take their companies to the next level.

Peter Ribarič, the general manager of the fund, said “It’s amazing to be able to find 5 high potential companies in the first four months of fund’s existence. We were certainly hoping that this could happen, but now we have empirical proof that there is enough talent and innovation for private investors to back at an early stage.”

Slovenia and the wider CEE region are proving to be an excellent source of innovative ideas and extremely determined teams ready to take on global markets. Silicon Gardens Fund is excited and honored by the trust expressed by its investees.

Luka Pečavar, founder of Sqwiz describes the relationship with the fund as “having an older brother that tells you about all the stupid things he has already done, so you don’t repeat them and at the same time getting you a date with his schoolmate’s sister.”

Silicon Gardens Fund is focused on adding value by providing experience, coaching and business connections to entrepreneurs in early stage technology startups. The Fund’s main investors are entrepreneurs from the region. Also joining are established U.S. investors who believe in the potential of the region. The Fund is betting that the combination of top local talent and the world class investor network can lead to amazing outcomes.

A group of entrepreneurs is launching Silicon Gardens Fund – a micro fund focused on investing in early stage startups coming from Slovenia and broader region.

“In the last few years we’ve seen amazing companies from the region – Celtra, Outfit7, Bitstamp and more. I believe this could be just the beginning. Silicon Gardens Fund will help accelerate young ambitious teams toward their full potential.” said Jugoslav Petković, one of the fund’s principal investors.

Silicon Gardens Fund’s aim is to help startup founders grow their teams, ideas and businesses at the very beginning of their journey and enable them to compete on an international stage. Its principal investors are young entrepreneurs themselves and they will be actively involved in helping the portfolio companies.

Investors

The Fund’s main investors are entrepreneurs from the region, among them Gregor Rebolj of Klika/Sportradar, Borut Rismal of Pasadena, Boštjan Špetič of Zemanta and others [www.silicongardens.si/angelski-sklad]. Also joining are established U.S. investors who believe in the potential of the region – Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, Jerry Colonna and Paul Vidich.

“Every startup community has to be led by entrepreneurs. This fund is an example of entrepreneurs stepping forward to do exactly that.” said Brad Feld, investor and author of the book Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City.

Thesis

Fund’s focus will be on adding value by providing experience, coaching and business connections to entrepreneurs in early stage technology startups. The Fund is betting that the combination of top local talent and the world class investor network can lead to amazing outcomes.

Investment plan

The Fund will invest €20 to 40 thousand in 5 to 10 companies in the first year. The main goal will be to enable early stage teams with high growth potential to explore international markets, validate their ideas and get ready for further funding.

Open source legal structure

“This is the first fund of its kind in Slovenia. Its legal structure was a major effort to set-up.” said Fund’s general manager Peter Ribarič. “We want to increase investment activity in the region, so we will operate very transparently. For example, we will open source Fund’s legal documentation in an effort to pave the way for other investors and set standards on how startup investing in the region should be done.”